Anyone familiar with trailer hitches is aware that attaching, or hitching, a trailer vehicle to be towed to a vehicle supplying the towing power can be difficult and can result in damage to the towing vehicle. Many devices have been marketed to make this process easier, yet moving and attaching trailers to tour vehicles still remains a challenge. In order to connect the trailer to the towing vehicle, it is generally necessary to back the towing vehicle toward the trailer in close enough proximity for the coupler on the trailer tongue to be connected to the receiver hitch, which is often located on the bumper of the towing vehicle. This requires a certain degree of precision, which is usually achieved after considerable trial and error, as well as potential damage to the trailer and to the towing vehicle.
Many devices have been manufactured to address the need to make this process easier and to minimize damage to the towing vehicle. Some use a mirror positioned over the receiver hitch to allow the driver of the towing vehicle to better view the distance between the coupler and the receiver hitch. Others, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, use a metal plate formed in a V-shape 1 and attached to the receiver hitch 2 so that the plate provides both a guide for the coupler and trailer tongue and a barrier for the tongue, minimizing damage to the towing vehicle if the driver of the towing vehicle is reasonably adept at steering the towing vehicle to the coupler on the trailer tongue.
Some devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,629,020; 5,343,969; 3,942,823; 4,210,217; 3,370,666; and 3,439,764 are designed to move the trailer in order to position the trailer tongue in close enough proximity to the receiver hitch on the towing vehicle to facilitate attachment of the hitch. These devices may be motorized or non-motorized. They must be available at the site where the trailer is to be hitched to the towing vehicle, however, and this is often not feasible at each location where a trailer is to be hitched to, and unhitched from, the towing vehicle. Most of the devices are too heavy and cumbersome to be carried from location to location attached to either the trailer or the towing vehicle.
Despite the significant effort made to resolve the problems associated with hitching a trailer to a towing vehicle, as indicated by the aforementioned United States Patents, there continues to be a need for a device or method that will allow a trailer tongue coupling to be brought into contact with a receiver hitch on a towing vehicle without requiring the towing vehicle to be backed toward the tongue or transporting a separate towing device to move the trailer tongue into closer proximity to the receiver hitch on the towing vehicle. It is to such that the present invention is directed.